Bear With Me
by fallouise
Summary: "Shrugging Kanon ('Aww.') and Kaoru ('Don't leave me, my dear bear') off, Misaki waddled to the center of the studio room and gripped the mic stand." Misaki falls prey to the band's pace, though maybe she isn't exactly complaining, and she may actually enjoying herself. (oneshot, hello happy world friendship, gen fic!)


"If Michelle sang with me, I could overcome anything!"

It was these condemning words of Hagumi that led to Misaki to where she was now, stuffed into a bear costume and holding a mic stand in her puffy bear costume paws.

Really, she was already used to how this band operated, so she should've seen this coming sooner or later. A small part of her must've imagined that she would've been singing as Misaki, though. That had to be the source of her feeling disgruntled. Kanon hovered into her limited vision, waving at her with a sympathetic expression. "Misaki-chan," she called. At Misaki's dragged-out hum, she continued, "do you need water or anything in there?"

"I'll be fine." Misaki put down the mic stand. She could work on carrying that around after they've gotten more comfortable with singing.

"Of course Michelle is fine!" Kaoru entered the studio room. She closed the distance between her and Misaki in bounds. Her arms encircled the head of Michelle. She leaned her entire body onto the hug, and Misaki had no choice but to carry both their weights. Kaoru Seta was snuggling her pink bear head, Misaki thought dully. "Our most dependable Michelle can do just about anything, as long as we believe in her."

"Yes, yes," Misaki placed her white paws onto Kaoru's shoulders and moved her away. Kanon giggled to the side of her as Kaoru went for another hug. Why were these girls always so touchy when she was Michelle?

" _MICHELLE_!"  
"Micheeeellleeee!"

The studio door was flung open as Kokoro and Hagumi burst the room, immediately barreling themselves into their resident bear. Misaki stumbled at the collision, only managing to stay upright because Kanon supported her from behind. No, wait. Nope, she was hugging Michelle too now.

"Hey!" When no one reacted at her exclamation, Misaki rolled her eyes. How many times had she done this, trying to shut down her friends and telling them to stop? She should know by now that redirecting their energy was by far the better alternative. "Hey girls," she spoke in a much friendlier voice. "Don't you all wanna start practice? I sure do!"

"You're right like always!" Hagumi sprung up, pulling Kaoru by her wrist to plug in their guitars. Kaoru had Kokoro by the waist, and together the three of them started prepping for practice.

Over Kaoru's shoulder, Kokoro grinned at Misaki. "Singing with Michelle is making me a little nervous!" She admitted, as if Misaki could do anything about it. Instead of saying anything, Misaki let her bear costume do the talking, bowing her head slightly. She couldn't possibly feel true embarrassment at that, but she could admit that it made her happy. Oh no, she was getting swept up in Kokoro's mood again. "It's not something I feel often… treat us well, okay, Michelle?"

"Likewise," Misaki raised a bear arm in camaraderie, but also to shield her eyes from Kokoro. Only then did she realize that a pair of arms were still around her shoulders. She couldn't look over her shoulder, though, and she couldn't exactly feel whose arms it was. "Kanon-san?"

"Sorry, Misaki-chan," Kanon squeezed her hug. "Those three are always hugging you, but you really are soft as Michelle. Sooo soft and pink… Michellleeee."

"Not you too," she said without any force behind her words. At least when it was Kanon, Misaki found no reason to turn her away. Unlike the other three, the girl was always gentle when Misaki was in her costume, so she didn't particularly hate this either. Kanon was most likely imagining an actual soft plushie, though. The Misaki inside wasn't like the pink Michelle in that regard.

"Ah!" Kaoru exclaimed.

She laid her guitar on her stand and stepped up to Michelle, a serious expression on her face. "As Shakespeare once said, let slip the dogs of war, so" Kaoru kneeled to burrow herself into Michelle's chest. "don't hog Michelle for yourself."

This wasn't going anywhere unless she put her beary foot down, huh? Shrugging Kanon ("Aww.") and Kaoru ("Don't leave me, my dear bear!") off, Misaki waddled to the center of the studio room and gripped the mic stand. At that, Hagumi and Kokoro perked up. Kaoru—who had fallen onto the ground in her despair—had picked herself up and gone to her guitar. Kanon pouted but sat at her drums ready.

Overall, it was just another Hello Happy World rehearsal.

They focused on ironing out the instruments for a while. Kanon needed time to adjust. Kaoru was always slow to warm up, and Hagumi could be inconsistent. When they were at a point where they felt comfortable, though, they turned towards the vocals.

The band had been singing along while they were working on the instruments so that they'd get grow accustomed to it, but now that they were paying attention to their voices, Misaki felt self-conscious. She didn't have stage fright, no, and getting put on the spot didn't scare her or anything. But to think that people could be paying specific attention to her—not just in band practice, but on a stage in front of a crowd…

"Michelle! You're not singing loud enough."

Yikes. If Kokoro called her out, then she must've let too much of that slip past her. "Sorry, Kokoro," Misaki began, only to be interrupted when their lead singer turned and grabbed her paws. "Heh?"

"Remember one thing," her shining leader stressed, shaking their handhold as if it would stress the importance of her words. This time, though, Misaki allowed herself to be swept away, grateful that her bear costume hid her expression. "you're not alone on stage! You're never alone. When you're someone like Michelle, you'll always have people to be with you! Because you're Michelle."

Misaki doesn't know what it meant to be Michelle. All her friends spoke highly of this bear, as if she performed miracles and granted wishes, but Misaki had always been around where Michelle was. And this bear wasn't a miracle worker. She just made sure things work.

So why did she feel so happy at Kokoro's words?

Kokoro dropped her paws, but she was still smiling. "I got an idea. Let's start from the top."

Instead of Kokoro standing at the forefront like they'd been practicing, she set her microphone stand in line with Misaki and Hagumi's. Kanon counted off the beat.

Misaki sung the beginning harmonies. It was going just as each run-through before this one, but as soon as Kokoro started her solo, she through her arms over Misaki and Hagumi. She swayed left to right, forcing the other two to go along. Hagumi laughed, twirling on her toes to come around onto Misaki's other side.

It was messy.

It was probably their worst performance of the song yet.

But as Kokoro grew more excited by her side and Hagumi was barely containing her energy, Misaki couldn't help it. By the time Hagumi was shouting her lines, Misaki was matching her step by step.

Kokoro always did like to hum songs she could move around to. From the drumbeat to the up and down, playfulness of the lyrics, Misaki had removed the mic from its stand so that she could follow Kokoro march in a loose circle. Hagumi had her hands on her shoulders from behind, marching with an extra pep to her step as they hit the chorus.

At some point, Kanon had left her drums, and Kaoru took her hand as they joined in their romp. At some point, they were all yelling the lyrics together, about sweet and soft sandwiches and everything being soft and sweet.

Misaki laughed. What the hell? They weren't practicing at all.

They wound down, Kanon running back to her drums to close the song off. Their drummer was still laughing, though, as Hagumi swayed her hips with her guitar and Kaoru took it as a challenge, swaying even more exaggeratedly. Kokoro had jumped into Misaki's arms, and they ended the song together, singing into the same mic.

The song ended, everyone breathing too heavily with grins that lifted everything with it.

"Michelleeee, you were great!" Kokoro said, throwing her arms over the bear costume.

God, Michelle was so sweaty right now. She'd have to request Kokoro's women in black to clean out the costume again before she would wear it again.

"The performance was horrible," Misaki said with no bark to her words, twirling around with Kokoro in her arms because it made the girl laugh. Luckily for Misaki, no one could see how much she was smiling too within the costume. "If we don't get better, this bear might be disappointed!"

"Nooo!" Hagumi hollered. "Never, Michelle! We'll always do better, always!"

Misaki may not be Michelle, but in some way, she could understand what everyone saw in the bear. This silly, pink bear costume wasn't performing miracles. But Michelle did something that Misaki didn't believe herself to be able to—to shine alongside the rest of the band. Here, as she lowered Kokoro onto her feet and Hagumi begged to be carried next, and there, as Kanon quietly asked if she could as well, and over there, as Kaoru mumbled a monologue about carrying herself through hard times, Michelle could be the one to rally the band around her.

She would never tell the band, but Misaki the normal high schooler hoped she could match up to Michelle, the master composer to this band's mismatched rhythms.

Little did she know, though, that the band already thought she did.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Written for the release of ふわふわ ゆめいろサンドイッチ, HHW's new song!


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